Sunday I went to see the Decemberist in Burlington. I went with Jen and her boyfriend Morgan. Sam and Christine went too. Well, I guess they all went, and I tagged along. We dorked it out about the Daredevil movie and such.
One of the girls who sings on Hazards of Love, wasn’t going to make it to the show in time, so they did NOT play HoL all the way through. They played more of a “grab-bag” of songs consisting of:
Crane Wife, Pt 3
The Island-Come and See, The Landlords Daughter, You’ll Not Fell the Drowning
July, July
Engine Driver
The Bus Mall
The Rakes Song
The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid
Apology Song
16 Military Wives
–Intermission–
The Gymnast, High Above the Ground
Yankee Bayonet
Shiny
The Bachelor and The Bride
Queens Rebuke/The Crossing/Annan Water
Dracula’s Daughter (a.k.a. the worst song colin claims to have ever written)
O’ Valencia
Crazy On You (Heart cover)
-A New Song
-Son’s And Daughters

The last two were encore songs. It was amazing. They even mentioned James Kolchaka Superstar, who spoke at the school last Thursday.

Wow, i’ve been doing SO much stuff, I’ve forgotten to blog.
Cartoon studio class on Thursday was probably my favorite. I don’t think I’ve laughed as hard in a class ever. We were broken up into teams by table and given phrases to draw. Three minutes to brainstorm and one minute to draw. I got “Lonely Han Solo walking down the beach”. He was frozen in carbonite and dreaming of Chewbacca. With the Death Star was setting in the background, instead of the sun.
Alec Longstreth tells us that inking will cramp up your hand if you do it too long. His advice is to go buy a bottle of wine with a plastic cork. Drink the bottle. Pull out your power drill and drill a hole in it long ways. Slip you’re brush through and it doesn’t cram your hand as much. GREAT advice, what with the drinking and power tools.
Then Friday I helped stuff some bags for a festival they had on Saturday. Did some homework.
The pub next door was having some promo where I won an Otter Creek hat, tshirt, and glass. I then got into a discussion with a second year about Watchmen and 300. Then I met some kids from the theater company.
Saturday it rained during the festival. I spent 40 bucks on local comics. Hung out and went to karaoke night. Comic kids slash theater kids slash festival people equals fun.
Sunday was lazy.
The Decemberists are playing this Sunday. I’m riding up with some kids. That’ll be fun.

Saturday, after orientation, I just hung around my room and didn’t do much. I was pretty tired after the 6 hours of orienting.
Sunday I woke up and watched Juno, which I hadn’t seen since the theater. Then I decided to watch Slumdog Millionaire. I wish that movie was longer. I didn’t want it to be over.
Then I figured I’d get some fresh air and started walkin to New Hampshire to grab a water or something. I ended up getting kidnapped by two Year Two kids, Jen and Lauren. I’d met Jen on Friday night. We went to Dunkin Donuts and I got a tea. I developed stockholm syndrome.
Today I’ve been doing a bit of the same. I watched some Kings on Hulu.com and went on a walk. I ran into some woman who lives here and she proceeded to talk to me for about 30 minutes. Not about anything I’d ever really care about. Yarn, and where to buy it. Sweet, I thought, as I finally got away. Grabbed some sushi for dinner, from a gas station. It was delicious. I can’t wait for tomorrow.

I woke up with a start this morning, thinking I hadn’t set my alarm and I’d be late for orientation. Turns out I had.
They school schedule said orientation started at 9. They are liars, it started at 10. I suppose they just wanted everyone there on time.
I met some of the staff. Alec Longstreth shaved his head when he started his graphic novel. He now has to tie his bear up under itself. It’s pretty jawsome.
We each had to stand up and say our name, where we’re from, why CCS, and what we had for dinner last night. I said I was born and raised in Charleston, SC. Why CCS? SCAD’s a bit overpriced and the Joe Kubrick school seems snoody. Laughs all around.
32 kids, seven of which are girls.
The fellow this year is a dude named Max. He’s from France. There’s a girl from Trinidad named Lauren, and a dude from Australia. I didn’t meet him today though. There’s another boy named Jesse. He was wearing a sweet Portal shirt. He wants to organize a videogame club. He owns golden eye.
Pizza for lunch provided by the school.
Then we saw the production lab. It’s amazing. I’ll have to take some pictures to show off.
Then the fire marshall came by and gave us some tips. Something he talked about that I never would have thought of is if you call 911, be sure to say “I’m in White River Junction VERMONT”.
Being that we are so close the the border, the call might get routed to New Hampshire. Good to know.
We were also given three free trips to see the school counselor. She told us that in the middle of winter, when it’s pouring snow and you haven’t seen the sun in three weeks, you’re going to get depressed. I can’t wait.
Sushi and an avocado for dinner.

Wednesday, August 28th, I left Charleston and drove to Asheville to visit my sister Mica. We went to see Ponyo. It was the JAM! The theme song is INFECTIOUS! Sadly, the two main characters are voiced by Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas. They, like Ashley Simpson, are only famous because of their OLDER siblings. It’s sad really.
So then the next day, Mica’s roommate Sarah came home with this crazy story involving her ex-boyfriend…and HIS ex-girlfriend..and a broken into house…and all sorts of crazy business. I’ll have to remember to call Mica and find out what ever happened with that. We had a spaghetti dinner and I learned how to play “spoons”. Fun was had.
Friday, the 28th, I drove to Washington DC to visit Taylor Jenkins and his wife, Chandi Kelly. I think it’s funny she didn’t change her last name…like she doesn’t want strangers to know she’s related to that goof. I missed a turn in the city and ended up in Virginia again. However, taking random turns here and there, I reset myself and made it to his house. Upon arrival we walked to bar down the street and drank 4 pitchers (10 dollars each). Back at their house, we continued to drink some PBRs. I recorded a SUPER drunk Taylor attempting to play FFVII’s Aeris’ Theme on guitar. Every time he would screw it up, he’d just start over. i’ll figure out how to share it…
Saturday I woke up pretty hung over. Taylor and Chandi had to work, so I spent the day watching Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I’m trying to remember what we did that night. I’m pretty sure we just watched episodes of It’s Always Sunny that they hadn’t seen. We ate at a SWEET bar with fake dungeon walls.
Taylor had to work on Sunday, so Chandi and I went to Brunch. Bottomless mamosas were 13 dollars, so we figured if we had 7, we’d break even. We were fairly drunk after four. They even made mine with cranberry instead of OJ.
Chandi and I watched “I Love You, Man”. Taylor showed up an hour early from work and we went to see PONYO (again for me)! In the movie they eat ramen noodle soup with HAAAAAAM! After the movie we were all craving ramen, so we bought some. Dhiandra called around nine. She came by their house and we hung out until like 1.
Monday I drove to Conneticut to visit my grandfather. I drove through New York City to avoid tolls. Breeding Chocobos in FFVII is easier than navigating that shit storm. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. I only got lost once. Whoever designed DC, was drunk. NY seemed that all the roads lead to the same end.
By the time I got to Grandpa’s, I was exhausted. I basically ate and fell asleep. It DID take 8 hours.
Tuesday I drove to White River Junction.
Check in time to my room wasn’t until 4, so I aimlessly walked into New Hampshire. It’s just a short bridge walk away. Found the comic book store, bought some books. On the walk home, there was a squash on a box with a sign next to it proclaiming “free”.
I also saw a dude on a harley wearing a VIKING HELMET! Oh, and there’s no tax in NH! sweeeeeet.